Email marketing is one of the most effective ways drive traffic and increase sales. But there are many misconceptions about how to make a great email pitch. Many companies don't send enough marketing emails--and the ones they do send rarely get opened. Here are some of the myths that could be getting in your way of becoming an amazing email marketer.
inc.co m http://www.inc.co m/michael-mothner/6-email-marketing-myths.html?cid=em01016week05c 6 Email Marketing Myths ON SITE | Michael Mothner Jan 30, 2013 Everyone knows you shouldn't send the same email twice, right? Wrong. Shutterstock 103 inShare clipped Connect with Evernote: Please Login to Connect Your Account with Evernote Email marketing is one of the most ef f ective ways drive traf f ic and increase sales. But there are many misconceptions about how to make a great email pitch. Many companies don't send enough marketing emails- -and the ones they do send rarely get opened. Here are some of the myths that could be getting in your way of becoming an amazing email marketer. Myth 1: If you send a lot of emails, you'll annoy your customers. In our extensive testing, we have f ound that as long as your e- mails and subject lines f eel f resh, varied, and not spammy-f eeling, it is nearly impossible to send too many emails to your clients. Yes, some people may unsubscribe. But the impact you get f rom sending more emails f ar outweighs the loss of a f ew subscribers. Besides, you can reduce the number of unsubscribes by giving customers an option to reduce the number of emails they receive rather than unsubscribing completely. For example, our unsubscribe page helps us retain more than 10 percent of people who wanted to unsubscribe. Myth 2: You shouldn't send the same email twice. We always send the same email twice, but with a twist. Every email that we send is f ollowed 48 hours later by what we call a "remail." Basically, it's the same content, but with a dif f erent subject line. We send remails only to those customers who didn't open the f irst email. We've f ound that remails can of ten double our results (we see a 60 percent lif t, on average). And all without the ef f ort of writing more copy or designing a second email. Myth 3: Emails should be short and sweet . Sure, all of your emails should have a primary call to action, which is above the f old and very obvious. However, don't have the email end there. Some customers want to scroll to learn more or see other content. So give them what they want. Add a row of “best sellers," new products, client testimonials, or other usef ul inf ormation. Myth 4: You should always create fresh copy. Some of the best perf orming emails are emails that you have already sent. No point in reinventing the wheel! Routinely go back and look at the best perf orming emails f rom 4 to 6 months back. Retool them and send them out. Clients won’t remember, and this is a great way to complement the new copy and creative, with f ar less ef f ort or creative juice. Myth 5: You need descriptive subject lines. Actually, unless you are having some sort of outrageous sale that people just can’t resist, descriptive, transaction oriented subject lines don't usually perf orm very well. What does perf orm well? Creative, catchy, eye-catching subject lines. So f eel f ree to be creative, witty, and f unny. If you make people smile, they won't reach f or the unsubscribe button. Myth 6: Companies should send email newslet ters. It's not so much that the classic monthly newsletter is completely inef f ective, but rather that the substantial time generally spent on newsletters is time better spent sending a greater f requency of emails. The f act is, people like tiny nuggets of digestible inf ormation, which means your caref ully craf ted newsletters are getting read f ar less than you’d like. If you spend that ef f ort on creating more emails with lighter content, you'll almost always get a higher return. Michael Mothner is the f ounder and CEO of Wpromote, an online marketing f irm and six-time Inc. 500|5000 Company that runs SEO, PPC, and social media campaigns f or companies worldwide. @mothner . inc. co m http://www .inc. co m/michael-mothner/6 -email- marketing- myths. html?cid=em01016week05c 6 Email Marketing Myths ON SITE | Michael. ic and increase sales. But there are many misconceptions about how to make a great email pitch. Many companies don't send enough marketing emails-